This application relates to interactive media guidance applications and more particularly to the transmission of media assets over the transmission channel of a television program. As defined herein, transmission channel refers to, in the analog domain, the frequency of an analog communications link through which transmissions from a particular television station is delivered and, in the digital domain, the portion of the digital modulation data in a communications link that corresponds to the transmissions of a particular television station.
Television viewers sometimes view a television program transmitted over a particular channel only when the actual program related content (as opposed to a commercial or advertisement) is displayed. That is, the viewers sometimes tune away to other channels during commercial breaks that occur intermittently when the program is broadcast. Such behavior may lessen the value of commercials (or commercial breaks) to advertisers. Consequently, advertisement spots may become less desirable when there is no guarantee that they will be experienced by the end users.
Prior systems attempt to increase the desirability of advertisement spots by allowing the user to receive or download media content from some other source only after the user cycles through a collection of advertisements in a program guide. However, these systems reduce the entertainment value of the television viewing experience by imposing a burden upon the user to continuously view multiple advertisements, one after another. Forcing the user to view advertisements in such a manner may be less desirable to the user than viewing advertisements intermittently during commercial breaks of a particular television program.
There is no mechanism by which to provide effective advertising to a user while preserving the entertainment value of the television viewing experience.